Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I ask the Leader to investigate the delay in urgently needed home care and home help workers to take up their positions. Many people have been successful in their application for home help and have been recruited but are held up because of the backlog created by new vetting procedures that come into effect on 1 January. There is a crazy scenario where many elderly people who are urgently in need of home help and home care, but who are perhaps stuck in nursing homes in which they do not wish to be, cannot return home because of the vetting procedure. Will the Leader speak to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to see if extra resources can be given to the vetting unit which, I believe, is in Thurles to screen those applications quickly, thus avoiding problems elsewhere?

I totally disagree with Senator Norris on the Afghan asylum seekers. When people apply for asylum here, they agree to leave the country if they are unsuccessful. We cannot have a scenario where people who do not get their way write their own rules. It is a very awkward situation and I wish the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform well in his endeavours in this regard. We would want to be very careful about giving in to mob rule on this issue.

Somebody came into my office recently claiming he had fled a war torn country and came straight to Ireland. It emerged later that he had lived in England for years and had a family there. His story was completely bogus. It is important to check out these cases. If people are refused asylum on legitimate grounds, they should leave the country and we should not be bullied or forced into taking another position.